I wouldn't think of a suspension for this. If Niedermayer isn't there to ram Holmstrom into the glass, it's a 2-minute elbowing or roughing penalty for Pronger and nothing more. Either of the hits on its own would be clear penalties, but hardly suspension worthy, and you can't penalize one guy's hit just because it happened at the same time as another guy's hit. Holmstrom caught a bad break by getting sandwiched between them.

To me, Niedermayer's hit reminded me of Radulov's hit on Bernier in the Nashville/San Jose series, not the nastiest thing in the world but definitely "five and a game" worthy. Pronger's, however, was directly to the back of the head as he drove it into the glass, and you'd think with all the hubub about head shots it would be taken more seriously.

I'd be stunned, however, if anything more than a game each to Niedermayer and Pronger resulted.

I don't think Niedermeyer really did that much... Pronger on the other hand, elbowed Holmstrom's head into the glass. Holmstrom could have very easily been out for the rest of the season because of it, and I think the league should rule accordingly.

Anaheim knew the game was lost and felt that they had nothing to lose... Giving them a free ticket to try and injure Holmstrom out of the playoffs?

I honestly don't expect much though... Calgary punched a concussion into Lebda during the first round with no repercussions... I don't see why the league would act any differently here.

1) One has to wonder how 4 officials couldn't get the call correct here? Even on real time it was clear that Pronger initiated the injury causing part of the collision2) There is NO doubt that in the regular season this would garner a suspension. Will the NHL show some gonads and suspend Pronger? We doubt it!

Even though it was clearly CFP doing the dirty work, and even though the man should burn in hell for all eternity, I'm betting the Colin Campbell Wheel of Justice avoids giving him a suspension. Because there are rules, and then there are rules.

What most people fail to realize is that Chris Pronger is tall. He can't help it if all he needed to do was lift his elbows in order to drive someone's head into the glass from behind. If he were short he would have had to leave his feet AND raise his elbows which takes a lot more coordination.

What most people fail to realize is that Chris Pronger has been tall for his entire NHL career. He can very easily not raise his elbows to hit someone. In fact, not raising his elbows is easier than raising them.

Blaming his thuggish behaviour on "being tall" is garbage. He deserves at least a game suspension.

I don't have a dog in this fight, but I think it was a dirty hit all around. And let me say as a Canucks fan that Rob's hit to end the series was clean, IMHO. But here, sure he kept his elbows down, but then drilled his shoulder into Tommy's head.

Both of them went for the head, not even attempting to get anything else.

Still, I think the 5 and a game for Rob was enough. Pronger's was more like intent to injure, and I think a suspension is warranted.

Pronger was considered a "repeat offender" when he diced Brendan Morrow's face with the stick when he was a Blue...At what point does the league start noticing headhunting disciplinary hearings as a trend with this tall fellow?

Pronger should be banned for the rest of the playoffs and all of next season. Holmstrom should file a 19.5 million dollar lawsuit against Pronger, Neidermeyer, Carlyle and Brian Burke for the obvious conspiracy that led to this cheap and unwarranted attack.

Even though it was clearly CFP doing the dirty work, and even though the man should burn in hell for all eternity, I'm betting the Colin Campbell Wheel of Justice avoids giving him a suspension. Because there are rules, and then there are rules.

It's funny how Campbell's Wheel of Justice has so many different outcomes for the same thing, while Stu Jackson's is just 360 degrees of "One Game Suspension."

Dirty hits from behind into the glass by both of these clowns. As usual, the NHL encourages potentially career ending injuries by not protecting players. 1 game? what a joke. It's only because Pronger is a superstar. They both should be gone.

Funny how nobody noticed that Holmstrom's helmet fell off 4 times in that game...

I think he should be penalized for diving, because he knowingly wears his equipment improperly to make the hits look worse.

Prongers forearm ran up Holmstrom's shoulders into his head because of the angle, his elbow wasn't involved much at all... Pronger just happened to hit Holmstrom's shoulders which were angled in a way to through his arms up. It happens, but next time Holmstrom should remember his training from Pee-Wee's and put his helmet on right...

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About Me

James has covered the NHL and the game of hockey since 2004, beginning with this website and continuing with The Globe and Mail (2008-16) and The Athletic. He is a member of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, a long-time radio analyst with TSN and was the NHL network manager at SB Nation from 2008 to 2010. A graduate of Thompson Rivers and Ryerson universities, James grew up in Kamloops, B.C. as a season ticket holder in the Blazers' glory years.

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